


Bait

by Deflare



Category: Scooby Doo - All Media Types, Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Clone Wars (2003) - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-04
Updated: 2019-10-04
Packaged: 2020-11-23 10:21:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20890526
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Deflare/pseuds/Deflare
Summary: A mission on Eriadu. A child in danger. Inquisitors on the prowl. Sha'a Gi did not sign up for this when he played dead and fled the Jedi Order, but here he is.





	Bait

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by Inktober 2019 prompt 3, "Bait".
> 
> If Shaggy can exist in the Star Wars universe... well, why not the rest of the crew?

3: Bait  
“So, like, tell me the plan. Just one more time.”

Sha’a Gi’s voice betrayed his nervousness, but also his anger. His hand clenched in the mane of his kath hound. A low growl sounded deep in Squ’u Bi’s throat, sensing his master’s unease.

A mechanical rasp hissed out through Fared’s rebreather as he sighed. The Mandalorian bounty hunter tapped his wrist display, bringing up the hologram the crew had scrutinized earlier that day. “I told you, we need to extract our target without tipping off the Inquisitors that their target is, in face, Force-sensitive. The only thing that the Inquisitors care about more than a potential Force-sensitive is a former Jedi. So, as we grab the kid and go, you show up, distract them and lead them away so Vehlama, Dafne, and I can get away.”

“So it would just be me and Squ’u Bi against three Imperial Inquisitors,” Sha’a Gi said flatly, peaking around a corner. They crew was hiding in a side alley on Eriadu, cloaked by the tall buildings surrounding them and the perpetual gloom that hung over the polluted industrial planet. This was the heart of Imperial power on the Outer Rim, seat of Grand Moff Tarkin himself, and Sha’a Gi didn’t need Force-based precognition to understand the danger they were all in.

“Just think of the cause,” Dafne said, brushing Sha’a Gi’s shoulder and giving him a winning smile—the same smile that won over crowds when she sang on stage, and that smoothed things over with customs officials when she was running a smugglng mission. “We’re rescuing an innocent child from the Empire, getting them somewhere safe. Isn’t that worth a bit of risk?”

The words would be a lot more comfortable if Sha’a Gi weren’t able to read the Twi’lek’s lavendar lekku thanks to his studies at the Jedi temple. She was nervous, too; more importantly, she had no confidence in his survival.

“For what it is worth,” Vehlama said from his other side, her voice flat as always, “if you perform this role, there is a 87.343 percent chance of success.” One of the Togruta’s montrails had been replaced with a cybernetic fascimile that housed one of the most sophisticated supercomputers in the galaxy; her one cybernetic eye adjusted, its red glow scanning his face. Her face was impassive, held still by her augmentations, but Sha'a Gi could feel her emotions radiating off of her--impatience, frustration, fear. Time was slipping away

“And what are the odds that I’ll survive this particular plan?” Sha’a Gi asked.

Vehlama hesitated. “Roughly 18.334 percent. Lower if you do not bring Squ’u Bi.”

“Of course.” Sha’a Gi sighed, heaving a deep breath. He never asked for this. He just wanted to get away from the Clone Wars, away from death and destruction, maybe sample some of the joys the galaxy could offer a cloistered young man. He’d become a downright connoisseur of the galaxy’s foods, delighting even in alien items that turned most humans’ stomachs. And he’d made a best friend (again, his hands sank into Squ’u Bi’s mane, and he absently reached out with the Force to gently sooth the kath hound’s mind). He didn’t want to get dragged into any resistance movement or the like; the Empire was horrific, but the galaxy was large and there were plenty of places for a former Padawan to lie low.

When he’d fallen in with this crew—a bounty hunter, a smuggler, a slicer—he’d assumed they wouldn’t be any more altruistic than he was. But he’d been deeply, deeply wrong.

But, there was nothing for it. There was a little Force-sensitive child out there that needed help. Sha’a Gi wasn’t much of a believer in the will of the Force these days, but there had to be a reason he kept ending up in these positions.  
“Fine,” he said through gritted teeth, “but you all owe me. If Squ’u Bi and I survive, we’re getting an all-we-can-eat meal, on your tab.”

Dafne grimaced, as she was the one who’d likely be footing the bill. Fared ignored her as he nodded, saying, “Fine. My tracker shows the Inquisitors should be here any minute; we need to get moving.”

Sha’a Gi watched his friends go, Fared rocking up into the hab block with his jet pack and Vahlema and Dafne following with grappling hooks on zip-lines. Taking a deep breath, he gave Squ’u Bi one last pat. “All right, buddy, let’s hope the Force has more in store for us than a quick death, huh?”

He knew when the Inquisitors approached, their presence a roiling black ball in the Force. Sha’a Gi wasn’t exactly the most devout adherent to the Light Side these days, but their presence still left him faintly nauseous.

Taking a deep breath, he stepped out of hiding, taking long steps to stand in the Inquisitors’ way—a man and a woman, dressed in black with masks covering their faces.

“Out of the way,” the man said brusquely, “Imperial business.”

“I know,” Sha’a Gi said, struggling to keep his voice level. “That’s why I can’t let you pass.”

That gave the Inquisitors pause. “What,” the woman said with a scoff, “you think you’re some kind of Rebel hero?”

“No,” Sha’a Gi said, his hand slipping up his sleeve to the cool cylinder strapped to his forearm. He reached out and touched Squ’u Bi’s mind, readying the kath hound for an ambush. Then, he turned his attention back to the Inquisitors, and moved quickly, bringing out his weapon.

A green lightsaber illuminated his face, giving the Inquisitors pause and making Eriadu’s passers-by gasp and start to run away.

“I’m no hero,“ Sha’a Gi said. “I’m a Jedi.” ‘And I hope that the Force wants me to survive this,’ he finished in his own mind.

He hated being bait.


End file.
